DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle men's tennis rebounded from a 2-1 deficit following doubles play to top Midwestern State 7-2 courtesy of a singles sweep, Monday at the Crotty Tennis Complex. The win was the 10th of the year for the Blue and Gold who improve to 10-2 overall, while the Mustangs, who are coached by former ERAU head coach Scott Linn, move to 5-3 on the year.
Playing their fifth match in eight days, the Eagles fell behind early as Luke Joyce and Colby Meeks edged
Chris Freeman and
J.R. Leonik 8-6 at No. 1doubles. On court three,
Simon Felix and
Kevin Chaouat drew the Blue and Gold level with a 9-7 win over Kacper Boborykin and Tomas Gretjak.
At the second spot, the Eagle duo of
Deni Zmak and
Anthony Grasso led 7-6 and had match point, but MSU's Kyle Davidson and Franteo Siljeg managed to fight off match point and forced a tiebreaker. With both pairs deadlocked at 8-8, it took 22 points to determine the tiebreaker outcome. In the end, the MSU team was able to get the result, edging Zmak and Grasso 12-10 to give the Mustangs a 2-1 advantage heading into singles play.
Freeman got the singles scoring started with a 6-2, 6-1 decision against Davidson at the No. 2 spot and Zmak gave the Eagles the lead with a 6-1, 6-1 defeat of Joyce at No. 1.
Miguel Lopez Gomez widened the gap to 4-2 with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Boborykin at No. 5 and
David Spennare clinched the victory for ERAU by downing Austin Crawford 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 at the sixth position.
The last two matches being played also went to three sets, and ERAU was able to notch wins in both as Felix, the reigning Sun Conference Player of the Week, topped Siljeg 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 at No. 4 and Grasso closed out the scoring with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Meeks at the third spot.
The Eagles will have a week to prepare for their next contest, which will be against NAIA No. 16 Oklahoma Baptist at 10 a.m. at the Crotty Tennis Complex on Mar. 18.
